The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has served a notice on the Telangana Chief Secretary on the reported suicide by 18 students who failed in the intermediate examinations.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports on the matter, the Commission has asked the government to respond within four weeks. Of the eight lakh who appeared for the exams, a staggering three lakh students had failed.

Large-scale discrepancies in the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) results announced on April 18 had triggered a furore in the State with students and parents staging protests

Software glitches

The panelsaidthe contents of the media reports, if true, raise the issues of serious lapse on the part of the authorities amounting to violation of human rights.

“A thorough probe is required not only to punish the guilty but also to ensure such sorrowful incidents do not recur in future,’’ according to a release.

Meanwhile, protests continued at the BIE office, and there has been no final word from the Board on the date of supplementary exams and the process of re-verification of answer scripts.

The panel, which is looking into the irregularities in the results, is yet to submit its report to the government.

The panel is said to have identified software glitches in the processing of results and lack of coordination among officials as the key reasons for the fiasco. A private firm, Globarena, processed the results on a contract from the BIE.

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